Naruto the NoLife King
by VespaRiderXephon-01
Summary: Naruto has been dead for five years. But one day, someone breaks into Konoha in the dead of night. Who is it? What kind of past does he bring with him? And what will happen in the future? Naruto with ideas taken from different places, especially Hellsing.
1. Pilot Chapter

It's been like half a frickin' year since I've last done something on this site, and I have to tell you, that's not a good sign. For all my other works, pretty much the only ones I've still got working is Beauty of White Eyes and Berserker's Light, and those are coming along pretty slowly. I've been having college blues for many a month (HS senior year, you know), and I've been sapped of inspiration and will to write.

So basically, this story has been the only inspiration I've had in a while (Started reading Hellsing manga). Both the new chapter of BoWE and BL are about halfway done but frozen, so I'll be working on that too.

Lastly, please be mindful that this is just a pilot chapter, not the first chapter, so this actually occurs somewhere random in the timeline. If I had to guess, it would be somewhere around the second part (I've vaguely planned out about three parts to this story). If I get enough positive reviews, I'll actually start this thing. Basically, this chapter right now is just a trial to see if people think it's a good idea or not. (I don't really have like a set number of required reviews, because I'm not doing this for the reviews. I just want to know that not everybody hates this and it would be at least somewhat worthwhile to continue.)

WARNING: Naruto with ideas taken from Hellsing (and possible other sources, like Melty Blood or Touhou, if I feel like it). Not exactly a crossover, but close to it, I suppose.

Disclaimer:...

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Pilot Chapter

The man who was once named Uzumaki Naruto walked quietly down the well lit streets of Akihabara, Japan. It was winter, so the evening was not long, and fast encroaching into night. The long-haired blonde looked around and noticed he was passing a park. It was going to be a long night, and with nothing to do, he might as well go in. With that in mind, he walked up the short flight of steps headed towards the large pond he could see in the distance. It would probably be a good place to watch the moon.

------

Touya Shikimi was having a bad day. The hostage he took was too rowdy and almost escaped, so he had to kill him, and the ransom was long gone. Because of that, he no longer had any money for food or a hotel.

Touya had been grumbling and cursing his luck for almost half and hour now, and was showing absolutely no signs of stopping, that is, until he saw someone up ahead of him on the sidewalk. It was rare to see anyone out at night these days because of the numerous gang fights that had been breaking out lately, so that was strange enough, but this guy looked freakin' LOADED!

He was long haired and blonde, with a pricey looking black leather jacket, black steel-toed boots, and a hat that looked a bit too big for him. Touya couldn't see his face or what else he was wearing because the guy's back was facing him and his jacket had a long back, but he didn't need any more to see that the guy could be hit for a lot of money.

So, without further ado, Touya followed the blonde into a nearby park, a perfect place for an ambush. _I might as well kill him while I'm at it,_ he thought, _I need to let off some steam tonight anyway._

Striking fast so as not to lose the element of surprise, Touya unsheathed a long knife from the inside of his jacket and promptly beheaded the blonde man. Wasting no time, he quickly found the blonde's wallet, and counting out more than five million yen, decided that today was a good day. Touya was just about to carry the body over to the bushes when he heard a deep, and heavily disturbing, cackling.

"Wh-Who's there?!" the murderer asked, alarmed

The voice chuckled darkly, "Very nice. It's been quite a while since someone has been able to take my head. What is your name, boy?"

Touya was only able to muster up a miniscule amount of anger to hide his fear, "J-Just answer me, dammit!" he said.

The voice cackled evilly again, "Ha…I gave you a chance to be nice, boy, but that chance is over!" As the voice talked, Touya turned around to see the decapitated head on the ground as well as the body turning into…bats?

"Gah!" Touya jerked and flailed around as the bats rushed around him, hitting him every once in a while. The bats were gathering together and conjoining into one central body. Eventually, all the bats were gone and Touya looked up to see the face of…the blonde man?!

"N-No…No! You're supposed to be dead!" he cried, "What are you?! Monster!"

The blonde chuckled softly, "No, not a monster, not yet. If you must call me by something, then I may be known as…the no-life king."

Touya was just able to muster a weak, almost nonexistent, laugh as he slowly tried to back away, "Ha ha…the fuck? What kind of name is that? No-life king…you've got to be kidding, right?"

Touya could only watch, frozen by the overwhelming sense of danger and fear that was flooding through him as _he_ smiled, "No, and it just so happens that I'm hungry tonight."

The one hereafter referred to as the No-Life King swept up and grabbed Touya by the shoulders, and, wasting no time, sunk his teeth into the would-be thief's jugular. They stayed that way for a couple minutes, the blonde sucking out every last bit of drop of blood, spilling nothing.

After he was done, the, now apparent, vampire was kind enough to crush his meal's head before he turned into a ghoul. Then, he dropped the body somewhere safe, breathing out an enormous ball of fire to char the body beyond recognition and depositing it in the bushes.

Wasting no time, the No-Life King dissolved into mist and left as quietly as he came.

------The next day------

Kamiyama Gin resisted the urge to yawn as he walked through the morning traffic on the way to the nearby park. Today was lucky after all, no sense in jinxing it by appearing unenthusiastic.

For three generations (not counting himself), the Kamiyama family has devoted itself to the precise art of hunting vampires. Gin himself wasn't too clear why, but apparently his great grandfather had encountered one early on in his adulthood, and it had insulted his honor. Gin himself couldn't believe that was worth chasing a vampire across three generations, but his family wasn't big on keeping records, either, so it was all he had to go on.

Gin himself wasn't too keen on the whole vampire hunter bit, but that was only until he had found his father crippled by a vampire he was hunting. Henceforth he was trained as much as he could by his quadriplegic father in the intricate ways of hunting vampires. So far he has hunted and killed many of the night children, but has yet to encounter the oldest and most dangerous vampire of them all, and supposedly the one to piss off his great grandfather all those years ago, the one calling himself the 'No-Life King'.

Gin had just woken up in the morning and, while completing his morning rituals, wasn't really looking forward to another normal, boring day of walking around town while looking for clues. Just as he walked out of the rather posh hotel shower what else should show up but an early morning news report on a _murder_ in a nearby park!

This was not ordinary murder, either, the victim was charred beyond recognition, but the police had found to holes in the victims neck and had supposed the victim to have been drained of his blood prior to the rather vicious burning. And that was the entire reason why Gin was up as early as eight in the morning, strolling towards a nearby park. He just hoped that this clue was real, and wouldn't just end up another wild goose chase.

Arriving at said park, Gin immediately located the site of the crime, as it wasn't very far from the entrance at all, and the police (along with copious amounts of paparazzi) were swarming around the place like bees to honey.

Walking directly up to the scene of the crime, Gin was somehow able to pass all the reporters with ease. Ducking under the yellow tape, he was immediately accosted by a full team of policemen, "Excuse me, civilians are not allowed past the yellow tape."

"Not a civilian." Gin replied, casually pushing past the policemen, who were looking both confused and angry at the same time. One of them decided to try again, "Sir, you really aren't allowed past this poi-"

"Shut up and leave me alone." The annoyed vampire hunter said curtly, "I'm working here." The fact that the policemen really didn't want to get involved with this dangerous looking man combined with the fact that it was plausible that he could just be an inspector caused the gathered group of boys in blue to flee the scene posthaste.

"Finally…" Gin whispered. Wasting no time, he immediately came upon the dead body…and was set upon by yet another group of policemen, this time accompanied by a homicide detective, "Civilians aren't supposed to be back here. What are the guys doing out front?" now facing Gin directly, the director bluntly said, "Get out. You're not supposed to be here."

"Oh, what got sand up your vagina?" Gin replied sourly, "I'm a professional, come to do diagnostics as to what killed the guy."

"What's there to diagnose? The guy was pierced twice in the neck before he got his head cut off and his body burned, probably in that order. If he didn't bleed out from his neck wounds, then the head thing definitely finished it. The murderer probably still has his head, the sick bastard." The detective said.

"That's not what I meant." Brushing past the detective, Gin paused to kneel down next to the body. He looked first at the limbs, to check for movement after rigor mortis. Then he looked at the burns and noted how severe they were and how long ago they occurred. Then, Gin moved on to the severed neck, noting the two holes, one which was almost ripped off along with the head, he noted that the stump had jagged edges and was slightly caved in around the end before standing up again.

"Just as I suspected." He mumbled to himself _This is definitely the No Life King's m.o. (1). The victim was burned immediately after before he had a chance to reanimate, and the fire was incredibly strong as well. The crushed head worries me though, he usually leaves the head intact so the victim is identifiable to loved ones. Is something strange happening?_ Turning around to face the detective in charge of the scene, Gin said in his firmest voice, "Do you know the identity of the victim?"

The detective shook his head, "No, not yet" he said, "The way the victim was killed leaves behind no identifiable marks, though we can tell the victim is male. Why-"

_He can't have gone far _"Where is the nearest place that has no access to sunlight?" The hunter said, cutting off the detective.

"The Ryojoku hotel, down by Kokuryuu." The detective replied, "But-"

Gin was already walking off. "W-wait!" shouted the detective, "Who, no, what _are_ you?"

"A simple man who hunts vampires."

------

Naruto had barely made it to a safe place in time, as it had already been almost dawn when he was finished with the guy that had attacked him (he drained him of every drop he could, so it took quite a while). Now, sunlight didn't outright kill him, but it did give him severe burns and was extremely uncomfortable to be in, so he was thankful to have arrived in time to avoid the sun. However, he was staying in the largest suite the hotel had, so when he got to his room, he quickly made sure all the blinds were closed and light-proof and promptly went to bed without even taking off his shoes.

However, it had felt like he had only slept for 10 minutes when he felt a presence in the hallway that struck him as familiar, but was different at the same time. Acting quickly, the blonde stealthily unlocked the door and hid in one of the ceiling corners of the room, concealing himself with genjutsu, and waited.

He wasn't disappointed. Not three minutes later, the presence approached the door and took no time in testing it, easing it open as soon as he (for Naruto saw it was a he) found it unlocked.

------

Kamiyama Gin felt something wrong as soon as he stepped into the room the vampire was supposed to have taken residence in. As always, his instinct proved correct, as not six paces in, his head was almost taken off as the No Life King dropped down behind him with a slight swoosh of air. Gin let out a sigh of relief. If it hadn't been for his honed reflexes, he would have been six feet under by now.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the blonde addressed him.

"My name is Kamiyama Gin. I believe you know my father."

Naruto took a second to think, "Oh yes, now that you mentioned it… Your father was a vampire hunter; I crippled him years back, didn't I?"

Gin snarled, angry that the bastard could mention it so lightly, "Yes, and for that you DIE!" Gin leapt forward, drawing a silver blade and intending to end it in one blow. Unfortunately, that was not to be as Naruto lazily leaned backwards under the horizontal swipe, before performing a back flip kick and knocking his enemy away.

Naruto, meanwhile, was confused and more than just a little annoyed. First of all, he didn't get why this guy had such a vendetta against him. He left the guy's father alive, didn't he? And then there was the fact that this Gin jerk was nowhere near his level of power, and to Naruto, that just made him look arrogant.

The blonde vampire watched as his enemy recovered from the kick he gave him and rushed again. Avoiding a few of the hunter's punches, he returned a few of his own, once again sending the hunter flying. Then, deciding that he didn't want this fight to last any longer, started sealing for a technique.

"Katon: Karyuu Dan!" Naruto called, spewing large bullets of nearly white fire at incredible speeds. As the bullets neared Gin, his eyes widened in surprise as he attempted to block and duck at the same time. It worked, mostly, as roughly eighty percent of the projectiles either sailed over him or impacted against his sword.

Unfortunately, however, his sword superheated and deformed after the first few hits, leaving him to try and dodge the last couple of projectiles in the blonde's flaming barrage. Gin managed to leap out of the way of one, but was still hit in the thigh by the other. Now having to deal with the fact that his left thigh was charred almost to the bone, the hunter stood up shakily and snarled as he pulled out a silver spear.

On the other hand, Naruto was more than a little surprised when he saw that his attack was mostly evaded or blocked, and smirked as he saw the boy (to him, anywho) stood up again to face him, thinking that this Gin fellow was stronger than he thought, and that he might have some fun for the first time in a long while.

This time, Naruto was the one who charged. The blonde took a kunai from his jacket and threw it, before drawing two more and preparing to deal with the inevitable counter-blow with the boy's spear.

Naruto wasn't disappointed, because as soon as Gin had deflected the first kunai, he immediately went to stab the charging blonde flat in the chest. Of course, the vampire had no intention of letting it hit as he parried the spear downwards into the ground before leaping over the weapon, flipping and making a pass at Gin at the same time.

Gin managed to tilt his head away from the kunai strike as Naruto landed behind him, immediately snapping around to throw both kunai at the hunter's back. Gin was hit in the right shoulder by the first one, but was able to bring his spear to bear in time to block the second.

Gin threw his spear like a javelin at the blonde and drew a pair of bladed silver knuckles, dripping with holy water. Watching as the blonde evaded his weapon with ease, he wasted no time in attacking.

Naruto saw this and immediately summoned a group of clones twenty strong, making Gin pause in shock for a moment. It was only a moment, but that was enough. Every single one of the clones cast a Karyuu Dan before disappearing, filling the room with fire bullets and superheating the air to dizzying degrees. After the attack, the real Naruto approached the severely burned form of Kamiyama Gin, staring neutrally at him, "You're very resilient, aren't you? Hard to think that after all that, you're still not dead, you know?"

Gin let out a weak cough, "Heh, it'll take much more than this to finish me off. You'd better kill me now, cuz I'm gonna come back and kill you for my dad and all the people's lives that you took so lightly!"

Naruto's eyes darkened, "Blood is gold of the soul, silver of the will, coins of life. To drink someone's blood is to take all his life for yourself. Believe me, for every day I live with the voices of the people in my head and their memories in my soul, that I have never taken a human life lightly." Of course, it was no good, for by the end of his statement, Gin was already out cold from his injuries.

Naruto only smirked, "Hn. I'll leave you alive this time. You might be worth something in the future, after all." The blonde then turned around and grabbed his hat and umbrella before leaving through the window, jumping from rooftop to rooftop while shielding himself as best he could from the sun.

_Tch, I hate moving around in daylight. Look at me; I'm already turning red from exposure!_ Naruto turned around to look at the hotel he was staying at and sighed _Still though, I should get moving before the organization gets wind of this. I can't let them find me again, after all._ The blond started moving towards the border of the city again.

_Oh well. Another day, another city, eh?_

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(1): modus operandi, or mode of operation. Basically what a person usually tends to do in a given situation

Well, everyone, I hope you liked this pilot chapter! Now if you could just do me a favor and drop a review before you bugger out...


	2. Apprenticeship? It's the Beginning!

This is an incredibly short chapter, even for my standards, but it's the first one, so hey, forgive me. This is really just to start off the story and give some decent background as to what happens. The next chapter will have alot more substance to it. (Note: next chapter will have a timeskip to the month long wait before the final chuunin exams).

Disclaimer:...

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Naruto the No-Life King

Chapter 1:

Apprenticeship? It's the beginning!

The village of Konoha, a prosperous place said to be the strongest of the five main villages of ninja, and for that, it has known peace for the longest time. Birds chirped, people laughed, and children played to their heart's content. In fact, right now, even at night, there was a boy, not more than 7 years old, blonde and innocent, running…from a mob?

Yes, that boy was Uzumaki Naruto, container of the nine-tailed demon fox (though he doesn't exactly know it yet. Shhh, don't tell him). Hated by almost all (I say this because 99 percent, while a lot, is still not all), this boy had faced hardships from day one. Currently, it seems the villagers had finally become fed up with his presence and are now hell-bent on killing him.

"Little bastard! Today's the last time you walk this earth!"

"I'm gonna shove my foot so far up your ass you'll feel it in the afterlife!"

"First I'm gonna cut off your fingers, then your toes, then your nose…"

Needless to say, the seven years old boy was scared off his rocker, and frantically took every turn available, making for a very circle-ish route. He deviated off course, however, when the villagers got smart and blocked some of his routes. Running ahead and to his left, he was hoping this street wasn't blocked as well, but was incredibly surprised to see that he had run into a dead end. Looking behind him, he was dismayed to see villagers already behind him, blocking his escape.

"Ha! Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, eh?" one of them said.

"Why?" Naruto asked, "Why are you doing this to me? What did I do to deserve all this?"

"Why, you ask?" they answered, "Well, we'll tell you why. It's not like you'll live much longer, anyway. It's because, little bitch, that 7 years ago, a great many people that were close to all of us were killed, you see, and that killer was the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Now, contrary to popular belief, the Kyuubi was never killed. It was sealed into human form, and apparently, it's lost its memories as well. Do you get it now? You're the damned fox, grown weak on your complacency, and now is the time to do you in!!!!"

Tears sprung to Naruto's eyes as he realized the truth. It was probably because of that that he didn't even try to struggle as the villagers closed in all having evil smirks on their faces, stabbing and beating him to no end. Naruto quickly accumulated multiple fatal wounds, "I see, that's what the drawing on my belly is for. But…the Kyuubi is inside of me. It is not me. I'm still…human…"

The blonde lost the strength to even speak at that point, proof that he was fading out fast. Seeing this, the villagers renewed their efforts with vigor, attacking faster and stronger than before. That is, until they heard a laugh.

This laugh was harsh, but unmistakably elegant. As the villagers turned around, they saw a single man. He had black semi-short hair, slicked back nicely, and wore a simple cotton dress shirt tucked in to large pants made of some tough material, all tied in by an intricate bronze buckled belt. The man was also barefoot, but for some reason, that actually seemed to fit into the ensemble.

The man spoke, "What luck! I was feeling quite hungry and went out looking for food, and not two minutes later, what should I find but a mob of scum utterly destroying a little boy. It seems nobody will miss you for a long while, and I will be able to feed tonight."

One of the villagers retaliated in an angered voice, "Boy?! This little demon?! You're wrong! He-". The villager wasn't able to finish, as the man's jaws were already around his neck, draining him completely of his lifeblood.

As the villagers saw this, they started to scream, "Monster! Another monster's appeared! Run, everyone!" And indeed, the villagers did run. But unfortunately, none were able to get past the vampire (for that is what it was) before them. Every single one of them was butchered and sucked dry, and every single one of them had their heads crushed so as to make them unable to even become a ghoul.

After his feast, the man then turned towards the dying boy. As Naruto looked up at his would-be savior with glazed eyes, he heard the man whisper, "Would you like to live? Do you want to continue with your life?"

With a slight smile, Naruto found himself unable to use his voice, so he settled by simply mouthing, "Yes, please."

The man smirked _Even__ when so near death, this one is polite_. Leaning down, the man gently put his fangs into the boy's jugular and began to feast once again.

After he was finished, the man stood up, wiping his mouth on his sleeve while observing his handiwork. It was two minutes before Naruto found the strength to stand. When he made to take a step, however, a large, red aura sprang up around him.

The vampire gasped (well, they're both vampires now. But I mean the older one) _This__ boy is the r__umored container of the fox? I see…then that means that because the boy is technically 'dead', the Kyuubi is now in the process of being sent to the death god's stomach. Interesting…_

Naruto, however, was still confused by what was going on, but somehow instinctually sensed that the Kyuubi was leaving. Angered, Naruto yelled, "Oh no you don't! Not until you've paid for all those years of anguish!" Screaming in pain, Naruto passed out, the red aura blowing away with the wind, showing that the Kyuubi had indeed left.

------

Naruto opened his eyes to unfamiliar surroundings. Looking around, he noticed he was in a dense forest, probably the one right outside of Konoha. He heard noise from the bushes, and looked around to see the man who had saved him come out into the clearing, "Ah, I see you are awake, boy."

It was then that Naruto realized that he had yet to even figure out his savior's name, "What is your name? and How am I still alive?"

The man chuckled, "My name is Tatari, Nero Tatari. But you will call me master from now on. And you are alive because, I have turned you into a vampire. With that, welcome to the realm of the night."

Naruto was surprised, "What?! You mean, I'm…a vampire? As in, no longer human?"

Nero raised an eyebrow, "Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, but-"

"Then come, you have much to learn about being a child of the night. Don't worry about your village. I have already taken care of faking your death. Oh, and it seems that right before the seal took Kyuubi out of your 'dead' body for the stomach of the god of death, you managed to rip out its eyes. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a bloodline, Kyuubi's famous 'Hakkyou no akaime' (red eyes of insanity)."

Now rather stunned, Naruto could only follow along quietly.

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If you didn't hate this chapter too much, please drop a review before you go. Actually, even if you hated this chapter's guts, drop a review, will you? 


	3. Chapter 2

Once again, a bit short. I've actually written quite a bit more than this, but after reading it through, I decided that it was best for the flow of the story to cut it off here. Thus, the fight and its aftermath are now for chapter 3. On the bright side, that means chapter 2 got out much faster than I expected it to. Yay?

**Disclaimer:...**

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Chapter 2:

Chuunin exams ignite! Mystery Stranger's first appearance

Recap:

_The man chuckled, "My name is __Tatari__, Nero __Tatari__. But you will call me master from now on. And you are alive because, I have turned you into a vampire. With that, welcome to the realm of the night."_

_Naruto was surprised, "What?! You mean__ I'm…a vampire? __As in, no longer human?"_

_Nero raised an eyebrow, "Yes. Do you have a problem with that?"_

_"No, but-"_

_"Then come, you have much to learn about being a child of the night. Don't worry about your village. I have already taken care of faking your death. Oh, and it seems that right before the seal took Kyuubi out of your 'dead' body for the stomach of the god of death, you managed to rip out its eyes. Congratulations, you are now the proud owner of a bloodline, Kyuubi's famous '__Hakkyou__ no __akaime__' (red eyes of insanity)."_

_Now rather stunned, Naruto could only follow along quietly._

End Recap:

5 (or so) years later):

Konoha was bustling as the Chuunin exams were already well under way, and the markets were busy with the many guests that usually come around for this event. It was the end of the month-long break between the second and third Chuunin exams, and already many delegates, rich people, and daimyo were here to witness (and bet on) the results of the most exciting final Chuunin exam.

These were the circumstances that a figure, cloaked in charcoal black and carrying a rather dense bamboo parasol, walked in on. The gates were thrown wide open as a gesture of welcome to guests, but the figure knew that there would always be watchers atop the gate. With that in mind, the cloaked one sped as fast as he dared (he didn't want the cloak blown off by the wind) through the trees so as not to be seen, and climbed up the wall instead of going through the door.

Dropping through to the other side, the person took a few seconds to check he wasn't spotted, before rushing into a nearby alleyway and blending in as if there was never anyone there.

Waiting for the evening, the figure took off his cloak, revealing formal clothing in a red and black scheme, long blond hair tied in a ponytail, and eyes of deep crimson that seemed at the moment to lack pupils. This, combined with his pristine unscarred face made for a very attractive man, as he was around six feet four inches tall, with a lithe and wiry build.

The man, looking to be around 20 years old, then proceeded to walk into the nearest hotel, requesting a room with no windows. After receiving his keys, the man was about to walk off when the clerk called out to him, "Sir? Sir! Excuse me, but due to the danger of the Chuunin exams, this hotel is temporarily requiring all residents to pay their fees in advance, so…"

Said blonde simply smiled, stating, "Then there is no problem. I've already paid."

The clerk looked worried, "But sir, I-"

Pointing a finger at the clerk's forehead, the blonde fixed him with a significant look, saying, "I've. Already. Paid."

The clerk stared ahead blankly for a moment before replying, "Yes sir, sorry sir." The blonde man proceeded to his room without further incident.

------

The next day, fireworks were already bursting as the Chuunin exam finals were about to start. The stadium was already filled with spectators, and the blonde could be seen standing in the back of one of the more shaded sections, watching over the proceedings in silence.

However, if one looked closely, one could see that the man looked sleepy and inattentive, dozing off every now and again. That is, until he was nearly bowled over by a young group of five ninja, most likely genin, and from Konoha, judging from their hitai-ate. "Oh, I'm sorry!" said the pink-haired one from the group, apologizing for the fat one that bowled the man over, "The crowd's so thick, so when he noticed you he couldn't stop…"

"No worries," the blonde said, his voice smooth, "I should thank you for waking me up before the show started."

As the man turned around, the pink haired girl (and the blonde in the back) noticed for the first time how attractive he was, as well as the fact that although definitely older, the man was still to be considered inside their age bracket. Of course, this prompted the pink one (who now seemed to be their spokesperson) to speak up, "Hey, why don't you come sit with us? Our seats are better than being back here, and there are a couple people that won't be coming until later anyway."

The blond shook his head, "I couldn't do that, I barely know you."

At this, the pink one's blonde companion shook her head emphatically, "Nonsense! Besides, we need to pay you back for being so nice after we bumped into you." Of course, this was a rather desperate draw at getting the man to accompany them, and the blonde could see that. So, he crushed the doubt in his head and agreed.

The five of them smiled, "Great!" the pink one spoke up again, "The seats are just this way. By the way, my name's Sakura, the blonde is Ino, and the three back there from the one with the dog to the fa- overweight one that bumped into you are Kiba, Hinata, and Chouji, respectively. What's your name?"

The blonde paused for a second, seemingly in thought, before replying, "Yakumo Murasaki-Hourai."

The genin raised their eyebrows, "Three names?"

Yakumo paused for a second, scratching the back of his head while smiling sheepishly _I can't just tell them I couldn't decide which one to use_ he thought, so he replied, "My parents couldn't decide on my first name, so instead of arguing about it, they just used both."

"Really? Which parent wanted which name?"

The blonde sweatdropped slightly, these genin were too curious. Oh well, can't go back on the lie now, "My dad wanted to name me Hourai after the hourai elixir, which is said to grant immortality to those who drink it. He always said it was a lucky name that destined me for great things. My mom, however, wanted to name me Murasaki for her favorite color, purple."

The genin sweatdropped as well, "Oh…then which one should we use?"

Yakumo shrugged, "You can really use whichever, I don't care."

"Cool." Kiba piped up, "Hey, you're probably foreign. What brings you here, anyway? Aside from the obvious."

Yakumo shrugged again, "I'm just travelling around places, and I haven't been to Konoha in a while. Besides, everyone in Fire is going on about the last Uchiha and how great he'll perform today, so I came to see."

Reaching the front row, the group sat down just as the event started. After the introduction of the examinees, the fights ensued, each one spectacular in its own right. The leaf genin Nara Shikamaru showed great tactical skill, even through a lack of physical ability and a crippling amount of lethargy and general lack of enthusiasm for what the blond assumed to apply to almost anything that implied active movement. Likewise, the leaf genin Aburame Shino also displayed a propensity for tactical prowess, though it was backed up by a large amount of skill in taijutsu and very useful clan abilities and techniques. Curiously, though, Shino seemed to lack abilities in general ninjutsu and genjutsu.

The third Konoha ninja was prevented from fighting the first round due to the forfeiture of his opponent from sand. During all this time, however, what Yakumo found most curious was the absence of one Uchiha Sasuke, whose fight was already postponed…twice.

When said genin finally appeared, though, it was to a rousing swell of cheers (and a fair amount of catcalls from the ladies in the stands) and general approval. When his teacher (who arrived with him) poofed away, the referee started Sasuke's match immediately.

However, Yakumo had just met Sasuke's teacher and introduced himself (apparently the group of genin he was with were at least acquaintances of both Sasuke and his teacher) when the fight was interrupted as feathers (obviously a genjutsu to those who are educated in such matters, namely ninja) fell from the sky, causing whoever touched them to fall asleep.

The ninja around the blond immediately canceled the genjutsu's effect on themselves before turning to the culprit, or rather, group of culprits, as already a force more than fifty strong had invaded the arena.

Meanwhile, Yakumo, who had pretended to fall asleep under the genjutsu's effects, took this chance to escape from the fray. Seemingly just melting into the floor, Yakumo reappeared just outside the stadium. Pausing to thank the powers above that saw fit to make the day as cloudy as possible so he could use his powers, Yakumo was just about to leave when he was promptly accosted by a group of invading ninja.

Smiling blithely, Yakumo asked, "Could you all please move? I mean you no harm. I merely wish to move out of the danger zone."

Of course, the ninja had to smirk, the one in the center however, also added in a pompous and self-important voice, "Oh no you don't. Orochimaru-sama himself has ordered us to ensure no one escapes this onslaught."

The blonde was still smiling as his face hardened, "That's too bad. It seems your mission is going to be a failure, because I'm getting out of here, whether you like it or not."

"Oh really? Then try and escape…this!" the group of ninja charged at the blonde, only for all of them to drop to the floor, unmoving.

"Indolence: Mind Stopper." The blonde stated, "One of the nine (currently, anyway) techniques born from my doujutsu, the Hakkyou no Akaime. I'm afraid you'll die soon. With your brain functions completely stopped, not only are you not breathing, but your heart will stop beating soon, as well. Though, I suppose this explanation's useless. You're probably not conscious enough to hear it, anyway." With that, the blonde walked off, looking rather peaceful for being on a battlefield.

By now, Yakumo had entered the forest situated between the great wall and the outskirts of the village proper, intending to escape this way so as to be as unseen as possible. However, much to the blonde's dismay, this was not to be, as halfway through the forest, his path was blocked by a fight between the last Uchiha, and what seemed to be a crazy sand monster.

Yakumo sighed, "Why does nothing ever go my way when it counts?" After watching the fight for a while, it became clear that the Uchiha was losing. So, seeing as how he had already been seen and the fact that the Uchiha was clearly the one less likely to try and kill him after the fight was finished, the blonde decided to help the Uchiha.

With that thought in mind, Yakumo leapt into the fray.

* * *

Hakkyou no Akaime: introduced in the first chapter. But just in case you don't know, it means Red eyes of Insanity. 

well, I know it was short and alot of people who've alerted or favorited this story will be disappointed after such a long wait, but on the bright side, that means part of chapter 3 is already done and you might not have to wait as long for the next chapter (that's hopefully longer than this one).

Soooo...even if you're disappointed, drop a review anyway...please?


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